Aggregating and displaying device, particularly applicable to totalizators



4 1951 Sept J. HANDLEY 2,566,610

AGGREGATING AND DISPLAYING DEVICE, PARTICULARLY Filed July 20, 1948APPLICABLE TO TOTALIZATORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 e i; k: E

Q I N w I V Sept. 4, 1951 J. HANDLEY 2,566,610

AGGREGATING AND DISPLAYING DEVICE, PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TOTOTALIZATORS Filed July 20, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 4, 1951AGGREGATING AND DISPLAYING DEVICE,

PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO TOTAL- IZATORS John Handley, Purley, England,assignor to The Union Totaiisator Company Limited, Glasgow, Scotland, atcompany of Great Britain Application July 20, 1948, Serial No. 39,618

In Great Britain December 5, 1947 2 Claims.

This invention relates to an aggregator of the type in which escapementwheels are biased to rotate by slipping clutches or other means whenreleased by electrically and mechanically operated escapement levers orpawls.

More particularly, the invention is concerned with improvements indevices of the type set forth in my prior patent application No. 723,532dated January 22, 1947.

The present invention has for its object to 3 enable the aggregator tooperate at much higher speed than previously, without undue strain tothe moving parts which are subjected to intermittent movements.

There are already known systems in which electromagnets are used forcounting, by operating escapement pawls which release ratchet wheelswhose movements are combined by differential gearing and urged by springdrive, but there is considerable inertia in the differential gears whichlimits the speed of counting, and throws heavy strain on the armaturesof the electromagnets each time the drive is arrested.

In the present invention there is a light spiral spring associated witheach escapement wheel, and the wheels are as light as possible, so thatwhen an armature of an electromagnet operates, the wheel follows upinstantly. The movements of, say, three escapement wheels are combinedto a single driving arm by two differential gears, though it will beapparent that any desired number of escapement wheels may be employed.The driving arm is urged by a spring just heavy enough to overcome thethrust of the light springs in the three escapement wheels. This heavyspring is anchored at its other end to a driving gear, urged to rotateby a slipping clutch drive, and coupled to the general transmission ofthe aggregator.

The driving gear also carries a pawl which engages a fixed ratchet wheelwhen the driving arm is arrested, so that the thrust of the drivinggears slipping clutch and the inertia of the general transmission of theaggregator will also be taken on the fixed ratchet wheel after eachmovement released by the escapement wheels. This ratchet wheel and thepawl carried by the driving gear are of robust section, but do notaffect the counting speed by their inertia.

To protect them as far as possible, however, the ratchet wheel isloosely mounted on an adjustable boss, and the inside of the wheel andthe outside of the boss each have a protruding tongue, these tonguesbeing urged together by a heavy spring, so that the shock of arrestingthe driving gears is taken by the spring.

To release the pawl easily from the fixed ratchet wheel, the driving armcarries a roller, which nestles under the edge of the pawl, whichoverhangs the ratchet wheel at one side. Therefore when it i moved bythe driving arm this roller lifts the pawl out of engagement with theminimum effort as soon as the arm starts to move in response to releaseon the escapement Wheels.

An aggregating device according to the inventicn is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 shows a side view of an aggregator counting unit according to thepresent invention;

Fig. 2 is a left hand elevation of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of part of Fig. l with certain parts omitted;while Fig. i is an end view derived from Fig. 3.

An aggregator according to the present invention is driven by a motorwhich drives it through a series of gears and shafts. Such an aggregatorcomprises three counting units and four transmission units for carryingout transfer to the next higher order of counting and for controlling anindicator.

, spring casing 31 is bolted to a crown wheel 52,

the first wheel in the gear train. Corresponding equipment associatedwith the relays 29 and 30 is generally similarly arranged.

Between the crown wheels 52 and 53 are placed two pinions ltii and lillcarried by a spider 5d. The spider 54 is keyed to the shaft 55 (see Fig.3) to the other end of which is keyed a spider 56 carrying pinions #39,49a, placed between the wheels 58 and 50. Thus, two differential gearboxes are formed. The crown wheel 59 (the final wheel in the gear train)is carried on the extreme end of the shaft 5|, which abuts against theend of the shaft 55.

It will be observed that the sleeve 5% keyed to the shaft 5! (to whichthe crown wheel 56 is bolted) has a portion of its bore adapted to receive the end of the shaft 55. The object of this is to ensure correctalignment of these shafts.

3 It should be noted that the ratchet wheel 36 (the five unit wheel)rotates in the opposite direction to the other two ratchet wheels,whereby additive summationpnto the crown wheel 53 occurs. It will beunderstood that the numbers of teeth on the ratchet wheels are dependenton the number of units to be recorded thereby; thus, the

ratchet wheel 36 has one fifth as many teeth as the wheel 34, so for onereceived impulse -it revolves five times as far as d'oes the wheel 34.Similarly, the wheel 35 has half as many teeth as the wheel 34. V I 7The opposite end of the shaft 5L (Fig.8) to that to which the wheel 5|]is fixed, passes through a block I on which the driving geargti isfreely mounted, and a fixed ratchet wheelfil. At its extreme end ismounted an arm 43. The

driving gear 26 is driven by the electric motor through a gear train andslipping clutch in knownmanner. To "one "end of the 'arm 33 is attacheda spring '42, 'theother end of which is anchored to the driving gear 25.Also mounted on the driving gear '26 is a pawl 40 held in engagementwith a fixed 'ratchet'wheel 4| by a spring 41. 'It'will be'observedthat, in order to avoid confusion, the fixed ratchet 4| and the pawl 40are not'shdwn' in Fig.3. The spring 62 urges the shaft 5| to rotate inthe direction of the arrow A (Fig.4), butthis cannot occur since thegear 26 (and hence the shaft 5|) is held stationary by the pawl 40engaging the fixedratchet 4|.

Also mounted'on'anothcr' leg of the arm 43 is a roller 44 adapted whenthe 'arm 43 rotates to lift the pawl "40 *(whose'toe'overhangs the fixedwheel 4|) and permit'th'e'driving gear 2% to be driven fromthe"slip'clu'tch"and to move the arm 43 (and the shaft 5|) 'Iintil'theroller-4.4 permits the pawl 40 to re-engage the ratchet 41.

The action of 'the'counting unit will now be describedwithparticularreference to thesingle unit relay 28.

When the relay'28'receives an impulse which is characteristic of oneunit, itrocks'its armature 3|. The'double=endedpawl am carried by i thisarmature permits theratchet wheel 34, to

turn one tooths distanceunder control of the spring 31a. Mounted'o'n.;thespr ing casing 31 is a pin 45 'which norniallyengages a pin 46on the ratchet wheel 34. .When the wheel 34 moves, these pinsare'therefore separated. The

crown wheel 52 'is therefore releasedby .the escapement action "of :theratchetiwhe'el, There- I fore, throughthe pinions I andJili, the shaft55, the spider :55 and the'pinions 49 and-tea, the

crown wheel|l"is'free..to rotate. Asthis is attached to the'shaft'SL-thearm 43. is free to rotate, and does so under :tension of thespring 42.

This carriestheiroller 4'4 with it a sufficient distance to disengagethe pawl 49: from the ratchet wheel 4|. Therefore, the wheel 26 isfreed'and is driven round by the motor through the slip clutchdriveandrpulls theshaft 5| with it until the movement; of the escapementwheel has been absorbed. Whenthis occurs the pin 45 on the spring casing31 engages the pin 46 on the wheel 34 which stops the ratchet wheel and.through the gear train described above stops the shaft}; I.

The drivin'ggear 26 overruns slightly, carrying the pawl with it untilits toe is just clear of the roller 44. The pawl 40 then re-engages thefixed ratchet wheel 4|, stopping the wheel 25 and leaving the spring 42in tension, whereby the unit is ready to record the next impulse. Whenthe iii) 4 pins 45 and 4B re-engage as the ratchet wheel 34 and thecrown wheel 52 have resumed their initial position relative to oneanother, it is apparent that the springf31a is r-tensioned.

It will be clear thatcp'erationof theaggregating equipment in responseto reception of two unit and five unit impulses is generally similar tothat for single unit impulses except that greater distances are moved bythe wheels.

Simultaneous aggregation from two or three escapement wheels can alsooccur when neces- 'sary.

In order'to'pievent the arm 43 rotating too far "when it first moves, astop 42a on the wheel 26 is provided-so placed that the arm rotates asumci'ent distance for the roller 44 to lift the pawl before it reachessaid stop.

' On the inside of the ratchet wheel 4| is a tongue 51 (Fig. 2). Thewheel 4| is located on large boss '58 having 'a tongue 59. These twotongues are-urged tog'therby a c shaped spring "53. This sprin gisapable of slight fiexure soas to absorb th'ejshock when the -:pawl"4fiengages the ratchet wheeflli at highsp'eed. F q The transfermechanismand the transmission units of the aggreg'atorf are described in detailin my prior U. sfspe'cific'ation 'No. '7233532 ofJanuary 22, 1947.

Whatis "claimed is: '1, An electromechanicalaggregator a'dapted'torespond to "electricalimpulsesreceived atvery high speed frc'rnaplurality-of'sources, comprising a plurality of spring=driven escapementwheels, means-for applyingsaid 'impu'lses to said spring-drivenescapement wheels, a common shaft, a plurality of differential'gears'between said escapement wh'celsand said common shaft foraggregating the movement of said escape- 'inent wheelsontosaid-common'shaft, rotatable means co axial with said common shaft,driving nieans for said rotatable means, a further spring- 7 drivenescapement deviceadapted to permit said rotatable means to rotate whensaid common {shaft commences to'moveand-to arrest the mo- 1 tion 'ofsaid-rotatable meanswhen' said rotatable means has move'd a'sufficient'distance to absorb the motion of said common shaft, said further "springdrivenfescapement device comprising a f'fixed ratchet "wheeL a pawlmounted on said" rotatable 'meansand"adapted to eng'age said fixedratchet wheel;- and riie'ans-responsive to motion "of said common shaft'to.disengage said ratchet wh'e'el and'said pawhand to causesaid pawl to"engage said ratchet wheel to arrest-the motion of saidrotatable means.V

'2. An electromechanical 'aggregator as claimed *in claim'l,'in"which"said fixed ratchet wheel is provided with a shocl-absorbing device-adapted to take the shockof arresting transmissionwhen engag'e'd'by said-pawl.

"JOHN "HANDLEY.

. REFERENGESEETED 1 The 'fo-libwiii rfriles a'ie-"of" record in the

